Climate Policy Development Tom Peterson The Center For Climate Strategies August 25, 2005

Climate Policy Development

Tom Peterson

The Center For Climate Strategies

www.climatestrategies.us

August 25, 2005

http://www.climatestrategies.us/

8-25-05 www.climatestrategies.us 2

Framework of State Actions

• Inventories and forecasts (38 total, 11 recent)• Policies and mechanisms (200+ types)• Plans (32 total, 11 recent)• Statewide goals (9)• Reporting systems (11)• Regional agreements (3)


Sectors

• Agriculture

• Forestry

• Energy Supply

• Residential, Commercial, Industrial

• Transportation and Land Use

• Waste Management


Mechanisms

• Voluntary Agreements• Technical Assistance• Information and Education• Financial incentives• Codes and Standards• Market Approaches• Reporting and Registries• Others!


Quantification and Decisions

• Reference case

• Incremental effects

• Decision criteria– GHG reduction potential– Cost effectiveness– Co-benefits and ancillary impacts– Feasibility issues


Trends

• Expanded action• Appreciation of existing actions• Successful conflict resolution• Standardization and improvement of process• Consistency and improvement of evaluation techniques• Standardization of overall structure of plans• Customization of specific plans and policies• Focus on greenhouse gases• Focus on economic levers• Integration of co-benefits


Initiation of Actions

• Serendipity – Co-benefits and coincidence

• Leadership– Policies, plans and goals– Sharing and cooperation


Decision to Act

• Understanding present or future mandates• Understanding the problem and potential solutions• Understanding potential costs of inaction

– Expanded risk of climate impacts– Loss of opportunity to shape future policy– Loss of opportunity to capture co-benefits– Loss of competitive advantage

• Understanding the process for responding• Assessing opportunities for success


Getting Started

• Convening the process – Executive orders, laws

• Planning the process – Process design, participation, facilitation, analysis,

coordination, organization, funding

• Preparation for launch– Preliminary fact finding: Inventories and forecasts,

existing and potential actions, current assessments and advisory groups


Completion

• Launch of the process – Joint fact finding: Inventories and forecasts, policy options,

reporting systems, goals– Stepwise evaluations, conflict resolution, iteration to consensus

• Concluding the process– Determination of consensus levels– Final report and recommendations to the convening authority

• Responding to and adopting recommendations– Follow up evaluations, screening– Plans for adoption or further development of policy– Interagency coordination– Opportunities for cross boundary cooperation


Inventories and Forecasts

• Purpose:– Diagnostic tool for policy

• Methods:– Start with standard tools and customize

• Outcomes/trends:– Comprehensive findings (comparative analysis)– Counterintuitive findings (new alternatives)– Rates and sources of growth (sensitivity analysis)– Sources of new (uncounted) emissions– Policy sensitive issues (consumption v. production)


Policies and Mechanisms

• Purpose:– GHG reduction and co-benefits

• Methods:– Start with existing and potential actions, identify gaps, customize

responses, quantify, and develop alternatives

• Outcomes/trends:– Actions across all sectors– Actions across all voluntary and mandatory mechanisms– Diversified portfolios of actions– Focus on quantification and alternatives – High levels of consensus– High levels of effort


Plans

• Purpose:– Options to meet goals and objectives

• Methods:– Develop action portfolios, reporting systems, goals, adoption processes,

cross border initiatives

• Outcomes/trends:– Standard process– Custom outcomes– Consistency – Consensus– Avenues for cooperation


Goals

• Purpose:– Induce and track action

• Methods:– Identify reference case, potential levels of effort

• Outcomes/trends:– Use common approaches (base years and percentage reductions in

future periods)– Customize to growth, cost, potential reductions– Apply common accounting and reporting approaches


Reporting

• Purpose:– Track progress, provide recognition

• Methods:– Develop common metrics for unique policies

• Outcomes/trends:– Growth in standardization– Expansion to new policies– Measure emissions and emissions reductions


Agriculture

• Expand soil carbon storage

• Expand energy production and recovery

• Reduce farm process/waste emissions

• Improve feed efficiency

• Reduce product delivery/transportation emissions


Forestry

• Protect existing live carbon stocks• Densify existing live carbon stocks• Expand live and product based carbon stocks• Expand renewable energy production• Reduce industry process/waste emissions• Expand low embedded energy wood products


Transportation

• Reduce travel demand

• Reduce vehicle emissions

• Expand use of low emitting fuels

• Remove particulates (black carbon)

• Reduce emissions from service equipment


Energy Production

• Expand low emitting sources

• Reduce extraction and process related emissions

• Reduce delivery related emissions

• Capture and store carbon

• Remove particulates (black carbon)


Residential, Comm’l, Industrial

• Increase energy efficiency and conservation

• Reduce process related emissions

• Expand waste recovery and recycling

• Expand low embedded energy products

• Shift to low emitting product inputs


Waste Management

• Expand solid and liquid waste energy recovery

• Expand low emitting waste storage

• Expand source reduction, reuse, recycling

• Expand energy efficient processing of waste

Documents

Climate Policy Development Tom Peterson The Center For Climate Strategies August 25, 2005